Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he approved the inclusion of the criteria of being committed to the best possible outcome for the UK following its departure from the EU in the cultural fit criteria used to evaluate suppliers bidding for the Trade Remedies Discovery Team contract, published on 13 February 2017.
The Crown Commercial Service’s template for procuring complex digital specialists and/or outcomes includes a ‘cultural fit’ criteria, as this is considered important in the digital marketplace. The cultural fit criteria is not disaggregated across its four components.
The bid evaluation is ongoing.
No Ministers were involved in the contract process.